Picking Up The Pieces

An ER fan fiction by AbCaLuDa

I'm going to try a chapter from Galen's POV here. During the school year I'm a Pre-Kindergarten teacher, so I'm around 4 and 5 year olds all day, but I've never really treid to write anything from a five year old's perspective. I'm basing Galen on a little girl from my class last year who is in our summer program as well, so hopefully my portrayal will be accurate…if not…well, at least I tried! My biggest concern is that she comes off more mature than she ought to be, but then, she is Luka and Abby's daughter…she probably is a little more mature than she should be at five years old, right?

Chapter 5

**Galen POV**

Dr. Susan helps me jump down from the counter, and we go to the lounge to wait for Mommy and Daddy. She goes to her locker and reaches in like she's looking for something. "Aha. Found it!" She holds up a copy of _Green_Eggs_And_Ham_. "I'll read it to you if you want."

I nod. I don't tell her I could read it to her. I know all the words. We sit on the couch, and she starts reading. She's just at the part where he's about to give in and try the green eggs and ham when the door opens and my mommy and daddy walk in.

"Mommy!" I yell and run to give her a hug. She doesn't kneel down to catch me like she usually does, so I have to hug her legs. "Mikey is with Jasna and Marko now," I tell her.

She pushes me away from her and turns away. She runs out of the room. Daddy looks down at me, but Dr. Susan tells him to go and he leaves too. Dr. Susan picks me up and holds me tight, even though I'm pushing against her with all my strength. She rocks me just a little, like Mommy does when I'm sick or hurt.

"I want my mommy," I say.

"I know you do, sweetheart. Your mommy is very upset right now." Dr. Susan sits down on the couch.

I scoot off her lap to sit beside her. "Can we finish reading _Green_Eggs_And_Ham_ now?"

"You bet." She opens the book again.

I don't care if she reads the story or not. I just want to go home.

Dr. Susan finishes reading _Green_Eggs_And_Ham_ and puts the book down. "I haven't read that in a long time," she says.

"Since little Susie was here?"

She nods. Little Susie is Dr. Susan's niece. She's a teenager now. Someday I'm going to be as big as she is. I might even be a doctor like Daddy and Dr. Susan.

"Do you want me to read it again?"

I nod. "If you want to."

"Maybe you can help me this time."

Daddy comes back just when we get to the part about eating the green eggs and ham in a box with a fox. I slide off the couch and go to him. He kneels down and hugs me and picks me up. "Hey, sweetheart." He asks me how I'm feeling in Croatian.

I answer I am fine, but worried about Mommy.

"Mommy is having a very rough day," he says, and looks at Dr. Susan. "But she's going to be just fine."

"Can we go home now?" I rub his jaw to feel the prickly hairs there.

"Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything," Dr. Susan says.



"Thank you, Susan. For everything."

I wave to Dr. Susan as Daddy and I leave the lounge. She waves too. I wonder if she will finish reading _Green_Eggs_And_ham by herself?

Daddy tells me in Croatian to be careful what I say to Mommy. He says not to talk about Mikey or Jasna and Marko. Mommy's very sad about Mikey right now and we have to try to make her happy again.

"Okay, Daddy," I say. Then I see her. She's standing by the doors, and Uncle Carter is with her. He has his arm around her. And I remember how he carried Mikhail, and Daddy said Mikhail was dead.

I push against Daddy's shoulder, and when that doesn't work, I scream.

Daddy puts me down in a chair and keeps his arms on either side of me so I can't get away from him. "Što je izvrnut?" He asks. What is wrong?

I tell him I'm afraid Uncle Carter will hurt Mommy like he hurt Mikey.

"Uncle Carter did nit hurt your brother. I'm sorry you saw him, Galen, but he was only trying to help. Mikhail died today. Do you know what that means?"

"It means he's in heaven with Jasna and Marko."

"It means he's dead. He's gone. He's not sleeping and he's not coming home. It means you don't have a brother anymore and your mother doesn't have a son. She is very upset, Galen. She's going to cry a lot and right now she needs you to be a big girl. You have to understand Uncle Carter loves you and he loves your mother and he's going to be around to help her get through this. She's in a lot of pain, and she needs Uncle Carter, which means you better get used to him being around."

"Why can't you give her some medicine to make her feel better?"

Daddy closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Because baby, it's the kind of pain that's in her head and there isn't any medicine to make this kind of hurt go away."

I look down at my hands. "I just want Mommy to be happy."

"That's what I want too, sweetheart, and maybe we can make that happen. But you can't scream every time you see Uncle Carter. He's your mother's best friend and he may be the only one who can help her through this."

"Okay, Daddy." I say.

He picks me up and hugs me. "That's my girl."

Uncle Carter smiles at me. I want to hide my face in Daddy's shoulder, but I smile back. I have to be nice to him for Mommy, even if she doesn't smile at me.

"Put me down," I say, and Daddy puts me down so I can walk between him and Uncle Carter, holding each of their hands.

* * * * * * * *

Please use the review option to tell me what you think. I had a very hard time with this chapter and I'm still not completely happy with it. But I hope it is okay. Please, and I'm begging, please, let me know what you think.. Thannk so much for reading!